Holland 1 Active Learning Institute
Spring 2016
Implementation Plan Scheduled for Fall 2016
Targeted Course:
W131: Reading, Writing, and Inquiry
Marcy Holland, Associate Faculty, English Department
Part One: Rationale for Choosing Strategy
W131 is intended to prepare students for academic research and writing by teaching the
proper format of academic papers, how to analyze and connect texts, how to argue a thesis, and
the critical thinking skills that support these activities. Students will likely be more engaged in
research and writing that relates to their own interests and intended careers than in writing in
response to prompts and anthology readings that are simply given to them. A combination of
flipped classroom techniques to free up time for more work on their papers in class and lab,
including writing, revising, workshopping, peer reviewing, etc., and some freedom to choose
their own readings and topics and even do some original research should be more agreeable to
students and better prepare them for what they will be doing later in their careers.
Part Two: Learning Goals
Students will learn to:
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identify and narrow a topic
efficiently research a topic
optionally do some simple original research
read accurately
form and support a thesis
analyze and make connections among sources
construct and format an academic paper using MLA.
Part Three: Syllabus Description
This course in academic writing will help you learn to analyze readings, develop your
ideas into strong thesis statements, and make connections among various readings to support
those theses. Extensive practice in revision will help to reinforce these skills. We will build
various skills in practice activities and three assigned papers, the third of which is a research
paper. You will have freedom (within limits) to choose your own research topic and the
Holland 2 opportunity to do some original research as well as library research to support your thesis. You
will do assignments outside of class to prepare for the writing that will be extensively
workshopped and extended in class and lab. I suggest that you choose topics that will be of
interest and of use to you as you pursue your major and career.
Part Four: Description of Materials, and Activities
Students will use the bank of course readings and the library databases to research topics.
They will use Microsoft Word to write their papers. They may conduct surveys, observations, or
other small-scale research activities to obtain evidence to support their thesis statements.
Research Assignment for Essay 3:
Using the readings from this course along with outside library research of your own, form
a theory about an issue related to your major or minor or a strong interest. Write a proposal
describing your research issue and provisional thesis and include an annotated bibliography of
your readings. You may also do some original research, such as surveys or observations, to
support your thesis. Use primarily the course readings and sources taken from the library
databases. If you want to use something outside these sources, please run it by me. The final
paper should be 7-8 full pages plus Works Cited, which should include 3-5 sources beyond
assigned course readings. This essay, like earlier ones, should adequately meet all 8 course goals
(found on pages 5-6 Handbook for Critical Reading, Writing, and Inquiry).
Part Five: Integration into Course
Some activities that are normally done in the classroom, such as reviewing material in
The Handbook for Critical Reading, Writing, and Inquiry and various in-class exercises, will be
done outside of class with quizzes and short assignments to measure students’ understanding and
mastery of the material. Work on papers will be done in class and lab with workshopping and
peer review activities as well as individual conferences. Instead of fixed readings from a
standard reader and fixed prompts, students will have some choices of readings and topics that
may relate more closely to their interests and future career plans. Readings will be chosen from
a bank of available readings for the first two essays (with some choice allowed) with outside
research added for the final essay.
All essays must meet the English Department’s 8 Exit Goals for First-Year Writing:
1. THESIS
Announce the writer’s own theory in the paper’s introduction – a theory that goes
beyond common knowledge and beyond mirroring the text author’s thesis or
argument – to explore/develop that controlling idea in the body of the paper
2. READING
Holland 3 3.
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Demonstrate accurate comprehension and effective representation of the course
readings. This includes reading, rereading, and understanding the assigned source
texts; identifying and defining key terms and ideas from those texts; accurate
summary and paraphrase of texts; precise and nuanced close reading of texts; and the
choice of relevant and appropriate context to convey the spirit as well as the specifics
of each source text used in a paper
QUOTATION
Introduce, interpret, and make effective use of the quotations included in a paper.
Quotations are carefully chosen to work with key terms and ideas from the readings
and are used to advance the thesis of the paper. The introduction to each quotation
orients readers by providing an appropriate sense of the original context. Quotations
are integrated into the grammar of the writer’s own sentences. The writer will
analyze and interpret every quotation and engage with the specificity of the text
authors’ language. Sources for quotations are correctly cited using MLA style.
(Note: competency in achieving this goal absolutely depends upon close, careful,
accurate reading skills.)
EXAMPLES
Incorporate detailed, concrete examples in most body paragraphs and mobilize those
examples as evidence of a larger point the writer is making. Primarily, those specific
examples will be drawn from the course readings and relayed through summary,
quotation, and analysis. (If personal observation or experience is used as evidence in
a body paragraph or in the conclusion, it must connect directly to the assigned
readings and work to advance the thesis of the paper.)
CONNECTIONS/SYNTHESIS
Explain or explore connections between readings in most body paragraphs, often by
working with quoted evidence from both readings and/or by applying a key term or
definition from one reading to a summarized example from another. These
connections or relationships developed between texts often involve testing one
author’s terms and ideas against the experience/ideas of another.
ORGANIZATION
Incorporate an organizational structure that presents well-developed paragraphs in a
meaningful order, supports the exposition of the thesis or theory, and builds to an
effective conclusion. This includes sentences that connect with adjoining sentences
to form coherent paragraphs as well as paragraphs that connect to one another using
transitions both to create a logical progression of thought and to forward the thesis or
theory of the paper.
GRAMMATICAL FLEXIBILITY
Use a variety of sentence structures to reflect complex thinking, including effective
use of coordination and subordination; begin to demonstrate attention to style and
diction
Holland 4 8. GRAMMATICAL CONTROL
Demonstrate students’ ability to identify patterns of error and demonstrate control
over those errors. In addition to eliminating errors that impede meaning, students
must pay particular attention to the following:
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Spelling
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MLA Format: Convention, Citation, Quotations
iii.
Pronoun Usage: Reference, Point of View (I, you, we), Antecedent
iv.
Sentence Structure (this would include severe sentence boundary issues
such as sentence fragments, run-ons as well as misplaced modifiers)
v.
Verb Tense Shifts, including subject-verb agreement
vi.
Comma Usage/punctuation
vii.
Parallelism
(5 – 6 The Handbook for Critical Reading, Writing, and Inquiry)
In addition to the goals above:
The final research essay in W131 must accomplish the following in order to pass:
1. Demonstrate competency in the exit goals specified for the earlier papers
2. Incorporate one or more of the assigned readings used in earlier papers in order to
connect the research paper to the intellectual content of the course
3. Incorporate a Works Cited list of three to five sources, but build from a working
bibliography of ten or more sources (beyond the assigned readings for the course).
Because of the difficulty inherent in integrating numerous sources into the body of
the paper, the Works Cited list is deliberately limited to the writer’s key sources – the
primary materials being analyzed and the secondary framing materials. The
bibliography incorporates background material that might enrich the writer’s
understanding of the topic and functions to help students improve their research
skills. The bibliography should include some range of sources, including scholarly
journal articles and books, but also allowing for background reference sources (e.g.
specialized encyclopedias, popular magazines, and websites).
4. Run to 7 – 8 full pages, not including a Works Cited page
(7 The Handbook for Critical Reading, Writing, and Inquiry)
Part Six: Appendix of Related Materials
Library databases: https://www.iusb.edu/library/index.php
Bank of readings: expected to be available by Fall semester
Supplemental materials: added to Canvas as needed
Holland 5 The Handbook for Critical Reading, Writing, and Inquiry
Canvas quizzes and activities:
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Handbook quizzes
Thesis exercises
Topic sentence exercises
3 I’s exercises
Connection exercises
Analysis of source exercises
Outlining and organization exercises
Analysis of sample paragraphs
Analysis of their own errors on previous papers
Reflection on what was most difficult for them on previous papers